New
study findings published in Stroke - a journal of the American Heart
Association (AHA) reveals that drinking more than two alcoholic
beverages daily in middle-age may raise your stroke risk more than
traditional factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Pavla
Kadlecová, (a statistician at St. Anne's University Hospital's
International Clinical Research Centre in the Czech Republic) and her
colleagues analyzed 11,644 same-sex twins from the Swedish Twin
Registry. Between 1967 and 1970 - when the participants were under the
age of 60 - they completed dietary questionnaires, from which
researchers could gather information on their alcohol consumption.

The
twins were followed for around 43 years, until 2010. The researchers
analyzed their health data over this period, including hospital
discharge information and details on causes of death, as well as
information on blood pressure, smoking and diabetes, among other health
risks.

The study results showed that:

Heavy drinkers had about a 34 percent higher risk of stroke compared to light drinkers.

Mid-life
heavy drinkers (in their 50s and 60s) were likely to have a stroke five
years earlier in life irrespective of genetic and early-life factors.

Heavy
drinkers had increased stroke risk in their mid-life compared to
well-known risk factors like high blood pressure and diabetes.

At around age 75, blood pressure and diabetes appeared to take over as one of the main influences on having a stroke.

Normalising Blood Pressure Life saving in Diabetes

Blood
pressure-lowering treatment among patients with type 2 diabetes is
associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and heart
disease events and improved mortality, according to a study in JAMA.
Kazem Rahimi, D.M., M.Sc., of the George Institute for Global Health,
University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K., and colleagues conducted a review
and meta-analysis of large-scale randomized controlled trials of
BP-lowering treatment including patients with diabetes, published
between January 1966 and October 2014.

The
researchers found that each 10-mm Hg lower systolic BP was associated
with a lower risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease events, coronary
heart disease events, stroke, albuminuria and retinopathy. The
associations between BP-lowering treatments and outcomes were not
significantly different, irrespective of drug class, except for stroke
and heart failure.

Although
proportional associations of BP lowering treatment for most outcomes
studied were diminished below a systolic BP level of 140 mm Hg, data
indicated that further reduction below 130 mm Hg is associated with a
lower risk of stroke, retinopathy, and albuminuria, potentially leading
to net benefits for many individuals at high risk for those outcomes.
“Among patients with type 2 diabetes, BP lowering was associated with
improved mortality and other clinical outcomes. These findings support
the use of medications for BP lowering in these patients,” the authors
write.

Is type 1 diabetes more dangerous in females?

In
the current scenario, properly treated subjects with type 1 diabetes
should have a normal life expectancy. Given the intricacies of the
disease and unavailability of modern devices and gadgets to the
majority, outcomes in type 1 diabetes differs. A new study in The Lancet
Diabetes and Endocrinology revealed that type 1 diabetes is more deadly
to women than men. The study says that women have a 40 percent higher
risk of early death than men with type 1 diabetes. Women with the
disease also have over two times the risk of dying from heart disease
than men who have the same condition.

Scientists
at the University of Queensland in Australia analysed data from 26
studies involving more than 200,000 men and women with type 1 diabetes.
The study also found that women with the condition were at greater risk
of strokes and were 44 per cent more likely to die from kidney disease.
Lead researcher Professor Rachel Huxley said: "We already knew that
people with type 1 diabetes have shorter life expectancies than the
general population, but this study was able to determine for the first
time that the risk of mortality is greater in women than men with the
disease.

It
is speculated that type 1 diabetes is more deadly in women because they
have greater difficulties with insulin management and glycaemic control
than men - factors that could contribute to their increased risk of
heart disease. Despite what may at first appear to be all bad news for
women with diabetes mellitus, the researchers found that it is not a
factor in increased risk of cancer in either sex. They also cite the
study as incentive to change the way doctors treat women and help them
manage their disease throughout their lifetime.

Editor's
note: The Gems Editorial Team is of the opinion that with strict blood
glucose monitoring, timely insulin injections and healthy diet and
lifestyles, the life expectancy of type 1 diabetes patients is no less
than normal individuals.